The present invention relates to a vehicle rear seat position changing device which allows multiple rows of rear seats arranged behind front seats to return to their desired positions.
Some vehicles have first rear seats and second rear seats behind front seats for receiving six to seven passengers. This kind of vehicles can, for example, form a large space within the passenger compartment to put baggage therein by folding the first rear seats and the second rear seats, or improve the access to the second rear seats by folding the first rear seats.
However, the first and second rear seats themselves are relatively heavy loads, and require great operating force to manually fold the first and/or second rear seats to change the positions. It is additionally required in changing the positions of the first and/or second rear seats to manually change them while releasing the respective locks of the rear seats. This results in relatively long time to change the positions of the rear seats appropriately for the use of the vehicle, leaving room for improvement in that respect.
As means for solving the problem, there has been proposed a xe2x80x9cVehicle Rear Seat Systemxe2x80x9d disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO-63-284043, for example. This rear seat system is shown in FIG. 16.
The rear seat system shown in FIG. 16 has a first rear seat 101 and a second rear seat 102 arranged behind a front seat 100. The first rear seat 101 has an actuator 103 for sliding a seat cushion 101a longitudinally of the vehicle and an actuator 104 for swingingly moving the seat cushion 101a in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The first rear seat 101 further has an actuator 105 for swingingly moving its seatback 101b in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
The second rear seat 102 has an actuator 106 for swingingly moving a seatback 102b in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
A controller 108 for controlling these actuators 103 to 106 is provided at an instrument panel 109 of the vehicle. The controller 108 is a mode selection switch for changing the position mode of the first and second rear seats 101 and 102. The operation of the mode selection switch 108 brings the actuators 103 to 106 provided at the first and second rear seats 101 and 102 into operation, changing the first and second rear seats 101 and 102 into a desired position mode.
However, since the mode selection switch 108 is provided at the instrument panel 109, an operator 110 performs the operation of changing the first and/or second rear seats 101, 102 into desired positions, seeing the mode selection switch 108. It is thus required to check the motions of the first and/or second rear seats 101, 102 while seeing the mode selection switch 108, leaving room for improvement in terms of usability.
The xe2x80x9cVehicle Rear Seat Systemxe2x80x9d of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO-63-284043 also presents an example of providing first and second switch boards not shown in FIG. 16 at the first and second rear seats 101 and 102, respectively.
The first switch board has, for example, a slide drive mechanism control switch for sliding the first rear seat 101 in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle and a reclining drive mechanism control switch for reclining the first rear seat.
The second switch board has, for example, a reclining drive mechanism control switch for reclining the second rear seat 102.
By manually operating the slide drive mechanism control switch and the reclining drive mechanism control switch of the first switch board, the first rear seat 101 is changed into a desired position. By manually operating the reclining drive mechanism control switch of the second switch board, the second rear seat 102 is changed into a desired position.
The provision of the first switch board at the first rear seat 101 and the provision of the second switch board at the second rear seat 102 allow the operator 110 to check the motions of the first and/or second rear seats 101, 102 while operating the respective control switches.
In the normal use of the vehicle, the first and second rear seats 101 and 102 are generally used in a position mode shown in FIG. 16 (hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x9cnormal modexe2x80x9d). At the end of use of the vehicle for temporary use other than the normal use with the position mode of the first and second rear seats 101 and 102 appropriately changed for the temporary use, the position mode of the first and second rear seats 101 and 102 is often returned to the normal mode.
It is also required to manually operate the first and second switch boards to return the first and second rear seats 101 and 102 into the normal mode. At that time, the first and second switch boards are operated while the motions of the first and second rear seats 101 and 102 are visually checked. When the rear seats 101 and 102 are returned to the normal mode, the operation of the first and second switch boards is released.
As just described, in order to return the first and second rear seats 101 and 102 into the normal mode using the first and/or second switch boards, it is required to simultaneously perform both the work of operating the first and second switch boards and the work of visually checking the motions of the first and second rear seats 101 and 102. The returning operation of the first and second rear seats 101 and 102 thus takes time, leaving room for improvement in this respect.
It is thus desired to allow returning multiple rows of rear seats to their desired positions while checking the motions of the rear seats.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rear seat position changing device for a vehicle with multiple rows of rear seats as a first rear seat and a second rear seat arranged behind front seats, having actuators for changing the position of each row of rear seats, having a plurality of sensors for detecting the position of each row of rear seats, and having a control unit for controlling the actuators based on information from the sensors, which vehicle rear seat position changing device comprises: a memory switch provided in the vicinity of the first or second rear seat; wherein, when the first and second rear seats are arranged in a desired position mode, the memory switch is operated to store information of the desired position mode detected by the plurality of sensors in the control unit as reproduction position mode information; to change the first and second rear seats from a current position mode to the desired position mode, the memory switch is operated to detect the current position mode with the plurality of sensors for storage in the control unit as current position mode information; and the actuators are driven with the control unit in accordance with the reproduction position mode information stored in the control unit to change the positions of the first and second rear seats from the current position mode to the desired position mode.
To return the first and second rear seats from the desired position mode to the current position mode, the memory switch is operated to read the current position mode information stored in the control unit and drive the actuators with the control unit according to the current position mode information, thereby to return the positions of the first and second rear seats from the desired position mode to the current position mode.
The memory switch is preferably provided at the inside of a rear side door of the vehicle. The memory switch comprises a reproduction switch for changing the plurality of rear seats from the current position mode to the desired position mode and a return switch for returning from the desired position mode to the current position mode.
Thus in the present invention, when the first and second rear seats are in a desired position mode, information of the desired position mode is previously stored as reproduction position mode information. To change the first and second rear seats from a current position mode to the desired position mode, current position mode information is first read. Then the previously stored reproduction position mode information is read and the first and second rear seats are changed to the desired position mode according to the reproduction position mode information. As described above, the memory switch comprising the reproduction switch and the return switch is operated to change the first and second rear seats to the desired position mode. This eliminates the need for visually checking the motions of the first and second rear seats while operating the memory switch.
The provision of the memory switch in the vicinity of the first and second rear seats allows the control of the first and second rear seats in the vicinity of the rear seats.
The control of the first and second rear seats in the vicinity of the rear seats allows an operator to easily check the motions of the first and second rear seats while operating the memory switch.